“Less than perfect” deal

Its past 11 pm. And in case you wondered what happened meanwhile, between lunch when I wrote the last blog after the informal plenary ended and now, there were deadlocks, many drafts leaked and not leaked, rumours, and cancelled press conferences.

It finally boiled down to the United States and China in a stand-off – on the issue of whether developing countries should allow verification of all national mitigation action plans, which China (and India) are against. India, for example, says it will allow international monitoring and verification only of mitigation actions supported by international finance or technology.

Finally we have US President Barack Obama issuing a statement in the White House that “meaningful accord” has been reached, though it is “less than perfect”.

Reuters quotes France’s president Nicholas Sarkozy also confirming that countries have agreed to a “less than perfect” agreement.

Which basically means countries have not resolved satisfactorily clear emission targets for 2020 and 2050, or long-term finance for developing countries; and there is no deadline to have a legally binidng treaty at least by 2010.

And with the clock tocking towards midnight, the final agreement/deal/accord whatever is still to emerge.